Grunt.js watch - node_modules always being watched - gruntjs

Question

I'm using Grunt for livereload only. It works fine, but I noticed that it has high CPU, and when I run it with "--verbose" I see that it's watching the whole "node_modules" folder.
So, I made some research, and tried to ignore this. Unfortunately, with no success.
My watch part of "gruntfile.js" is:
// the watch stuff ..
watch: {
all: {
files: ['!**/node_modules/**', 'js/**/*.js', 'css/**/*.css', 'index.html'],
options: {
interval: 5007,
livereload: true
}
}
},
and basically I'm saying I want grunt to watch all js, css and the index.html file. Explicitly added the code for ignoring "node_modules", but it still says it's watching it and the CPU goes around 30%. (Mac OSx)
==================
One thing I noticed though:
When I make a change in the "gruntfile.js" - for example add one more file to the "files" property of the "watch" task - then it restarts the grunt, and in the console I see it start watching only the files I want, and then CPU goes below 1%. (I guess it's how it should be originally.)
What am I doing wrong?
====================
Edit: Unfortunately, when I change the gruntfile and I see only the files I want are being watched - then the livereload stuff is no longer working.
====================
This is the article I started from:
http://thecrumb.com/2014/03/15/using-grunt-for-live-reload/
Here is my package.json file:
{
"name": "grunt-reload",
"version": "1.0.0",
"devDependencies": {
"grunt": "~0.4.3",
"matchdep": "~0.3.0",
"grunt-express": "~1.2.1",
"grunt-contrib-watch": "~0.6.0",
"grunt-open": "~0.2.3"
}
}
And here is my Gruntfile.js:
module.exports = function(grunt) {
require('matchdep')
.filterDev('grunt-*')
.forEach(grunt.loadNpmTasks);
grunt.initConfig({
// the web server ..
express: {
all: {
options: {
bases: [__dirname],
port: 8888,
hostname: 'localhost',
livereload: true
}
}
},
// the watch stuff ..
watch: {
all: {
files: ['js/**/*.js', 'css/**/*.css', 'index.html'],
options: {
livereload: true
}
}
},
// the automatic opening stuff ..
open: {
all: {
path: 'http://localhost:8888/index.html'
}
}
});
// create the server task ..
grunt.registerTask(
'server',
['express', 'open', 'watch']
);
}; // end of "module.exports" ..
And I start all of this with "grunt server".

Answer 1

edit: After you shared your Gruntfile, the problem became more clearer.
In your grunt-express config, you have set livereload to true and bases to __dirname, which is the folder Gruntfile in ran from.
Now, let's look at the grunt-express documentation:
bases
Type: String|Array Default: null
The bases (or root) directories from which static files will be served. A connect.static() will be generated for each entry of bases. When livereload is set to true (or set to a specific port number), a watch task will be created for you (at runtime) to watch your basePath/**/*.*.
(Emphasis mine)
So in your grunt-express config, you set your livereload to watch all the files in your basepath, which of course includes node_modules.
You have couple of options:
Remove your other watch task and config grunt-expresses basepath accordingly (just copy your other config basically).
Keep both of the watch tasks and just ignore the node_modules in the other grunt-express -> bases config.
Remove the bases and handle livereloading in the other watch task
Where is the node_modules folder located? If it's on root, you can just remove the node_modules parameter altogether as long as there aren't any matching glob patterns:
// the watch stuff ..
watch: {
all: {
files: ['js/**/*.js', 'css/**/*.css', 'index.html'],
options: {
interval: 5007,
livereload: true
}
}
},
Now you are watching: All .js-files under js folder, index.html on root and so on.
However if you have node_modules under js/node_modules, you can the explicitly ignore that folder and the files in it:
files: ['!js/node_modules/**', 'js/**/*.js', 'css/**/*.css', 'index.html'],
Anyway, depending on your Gruntfiles and node_module-folders location your configuration should work just fine anyway.